Church Humanitarian Service and the Powerful Role of Charity in Blessing the Poor while Protecting Covenant People against Pride
Glen T. Evans
Elder Uchtdorf - Providing in the Lord's way." a seminal talk.
The two great commandments-- to love God and our neighbor -- are a joining of the temporal and the spiritual. It is important to note that these two commandments are called "great" because every other commandment hangs upon them. In other words, our personal, family, and Church priorities must begin here. All other goals and actions should spring from the fountain of these two great commandments--from our love for God and for our neighbor.
Moroni 7:46-48 Cleave unto charity. Because charity NEVER faileth. Because Charity is a protector. Who so is possessed with it at the last day shall be well with it.
Last year 110 emergency events. These are reactive events but the bulk of charity given is proactive with wheelchairs, water, and other projects. LDScharities.org
In prior years we shipped but now we are locally providing. ie Japan earthquake there was no shipping.
Sometimes when we try to do good we only make them a victim.
"We understand you have a need to serve, but the need for your service. Please, identify the need for your service first, then tailor your service to meet that need." - humanitarian staffer Bill Reynalds
"Pride is a deadly cancer. It is a gateway sin that leads to a host of other human weaknesses. In fact, it could be said that every other sin is, in essence, a manifestation of pride." Pres Uchtdorf Oct, 2010(Pride and the Priesthood)
Pride cycle. pridepridepridedeadly
Material comforts, excess, greed, pride, wickedness, and collapse of morality, calamities repentance and humility, righteousness, prosperity, material comforts, excess, giving charity, and gratitude, humility and repentance, righteousness, and prosperity and then material comforts.
Matt 7:13
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mosiah 4:26,
And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you--that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God--I would that ye should impart of you substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.
"God will have a humble people....'Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.' Alma 32:16
"et us choose to be humble. We can do it . I know we can."
Pride and the priesthood talk by President Uchtdorf
Charity kills pride it is an inoculator
Charity kills pride, but it can be kind of "messy" "We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves.... The moment we stop obsessing with ourselves and lose ourselves in service, our pride diminishes and begins to die."
There is a little nudge(spirit) that we need to solve problems right around us. Don't wait for someone else to fix it.
Elder Oaks
"The reason charity never fails and the reason charity is greater than even the most significant acts of goodness, her cited is that charity, "the pure love of Christ: (Moro.7:47),is not an act but a condition or state of begin. Charity is attained through a succession of acts that result in a conversion. Charity is something one becomes. Thus, as Moroni declared, :except men shall have charity they cannot inherit: the place prepared for them in the mansions of the Father (Ether 12:34:)
Might a disability or limitation enable someone to uniquely serve another?
"Life seems to be orchestrated in such a manner that even our weaknesses, inabilities, limitations, and disabilities enable us to touch the lives of those around us in ways that only we can. Because of their impact on us, our problems force us to redefine ourselves. In essence, they are our portals of discovery." pg 61 Becometh as a Child, Lowell Oswald
Henry B Eyring, "As you serve others for Him, He lets you feel His love. And in time, feelings of charity become part of your very nature. And you will receive the assurance...in your heart as you persist in serving others in life, all will be well with you."
"In the end you must do in your area what disciples of Christ have done in every dispensation: counsel together, use all resources available, seek the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, ask the Lord for His confirmation, and then roll up your sleeves and go to work.
I give you a promise: if you will follow this pattern, you will receive specific guidance as to the who, what when and where of providing the Lord's way."
Deiter F. Uchtorf
Promises
"for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail-- Moroni 7:46
"Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever, and whoso is found possessed of it, at the last day, it shall be well with him. --Moroni 7:47
"Pray unto the father with all the energy of heart that ye maybe filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are the true followers of his son, Jesus Christ..."7:48.
Had an interesting 4th of July this year. We broke from tradition and didn't go to the parade, and I forgot to take pictures. So it's as though we had an imaginary 4th. Ha ha. Paige made the kids shirts and they were awesome, and fixed the girls hair. They were so darn cute. I didn't even think about shirts until the night before and I ran to Old Navy to get Reese a shirt. Paige asked if I'd pick her one up and I got the Navy Blue stripe version of the shirt pictured.I feel way bad that we forgot to take pictures at the breakfast and of the kids cute outfits. I'll see if I can add some later. Instead if fighting the crowds at the parade we chose to go to Cherry Hill and play in the water. Everyone had such a good time. Grandpa felt a challenge to bring something new so he brought the SunOven and baked us up a batch of Orange rolls. Oh so tasty, and we did have the traditional KFC in honor of Grandma Reese. In the evening we wanted to go to the fireworks show. Paige didn't want a crowd so we went over to the Heritage Church. We set off our fireworks and it was really a blast. Wish we had more cash to get more. The kids really seemed to enjoy the fireworks and the freedom of running around. I brought more goodies than and army could eat. Grandpa bless is heart took a few pictures of the fireworks time. So we do have a few pictures but the kids are in PJ's by this time.
